Africana Studies

AFRS 1. Ethnic Experience

Prerequisites: G.E. Foundation A2. Examines the experiences of various ethnic minorities
in the U.S., addresses the issue of race as it affects ethnic formation, analyzes
public policy and ethnic experience, discusses the comparable idealogies of race and
gender, and evaluates culture and ethnic experience. G.E. Breadth D3.

Units: 3GE Area: D3

AFRS 10. Introduction to Africana Studies

Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation A2. A survey course designed to introduce students to
the vast array of scholarship defining the African American experience as they relate
to the experiences of Africans on the continent and other peoples of African descent
in the Diaspora. (Formerly AFAM 10).

Units: 3Course Typically Offered: FallGE Area: D3

AFRS 15. Slavery and the American Experience

Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation A2. A survey course examining the role of slavery in
the economic, political and social development of the United States from the founding
of the colonies through the revolutionary period to the civil war and beyond.

Units: 3Course Typically Offered: SpringGE Area: D3

AFRS 20. Critical Thinking About Race

This course uses critical thinking skills to discuss, analyze, and critique centuries-old
ideas on race/ethnicity and the social policies that were enacted to promote prejudice
and discrimination against minorities with a special focus on peoples of African decent
and American Indians.

Units: 3Course Typically Offered: Fall, SpringGE Area: A3

AFRS 21. Gospel Choir

(Same as Music 102GC) Performance of a variety of inspirational songs reflecting the
African American cultural experience. Participation through rehearsals, activities,
programs, and field trips.

AFRS 24. African American Music

The origin and evolution of African American music from the perspective of social
and cultural history. Emphasis on slave songs, gospel, jazz, rhythm and blues, and
soul music.

Units: 3

AFRS 27. Africana Cultures and Images

Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation A2. Introduction to the historical and contemporary
experiences of African Americans and other peoples of African descent. Examines historical
and social arrangements implicated in the experiences and the images these arrangements
construct both in the United States and around the world. G.E. Breadth D3. (Formerly
AFAM 27)

Units: 3Course Typically Offered: Fall, SpringGE Area: D3

AFRS 35. Art and Music of Africa

Comprehensive study of African artistry and music.

Units: 3

AFRS 36. Contemporary African Societies

Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation A2. Analysis of the cultural and political structure
of African socities; understanding the impact of colonialism in Africa; realizing
the relationship of African Americans to Africa. (Formerly AFAM 36)

Units: 3Course Typically Offered: FallGE Area: D3

AFRS 38. Sociology of the Black Experience

Basic principles sociology and their application to the black experience. This introductory
course utilizes the sociological approach to seek an understanding of the various
experiences of black people in society. Involves participant observation, interviewing,
and field trips. (Formerly AFAM 38).

Units: 3

AFRS 55T. Topics in African American Studies

Selected topics at the introductory level in African American Studies.

Units: 1-3, Repeatable up to 9 units

AFRS 55T. The African Experience in Latin America

This course will analyze the history of how Africans in Latin America became "Afro-Latinos"
in language, culture, and social consciousness while still retaining their African
heritage. In understanding this heritage, the course will explore the influence of
African retentions on New World Iberian societies.

Units: 3, Repeatable up to 9 units

AFRS 55T. Hip Hop Culture

Over the decades, rap music has blossomed into a corporate owned, media produced,
multibillion dollar enterprise that exploits and normalizes the most negative representations
of stereotypical "blackness" and patriarchy, while justifying its own hyper-masculine
rhetoric and sexual exploitation of women. Despite this, underground Hip-Hop culture
has become an international form of cultural expression and resistance rooted in a
long history of African Diaspora aesthetic production and political struggle. Thus,
Hip-Hop is both a form of cultural and political resistance and an exploitive capitalistic
venture. This course will examine the ways in which Hip-Hop can be both a positive
force for change and a negative exploitive force, while paying tribute to the spaces
it provides for the youth to communicate new ideas and new ways of defining reality.
We will explore break dancing, beat boxing, graffiti art, entrepreneurship, lyrical
rap styles and subject matter, production styles, and significant movements within
mainstream and underground Hip Hop culture.

Units: 3

AFRS 56. The African American Family

Deals with the origin, development, and adaptations the African American family has
created to sustain itself as a viable institution. Emphasis is on problems encountered
and created by the American society and how the African American family handles these
adversities.

AFRS 104W. Writing About American Inequality

Prerequisite: satisfactory completion (C or better) of the ENGL 5B or ENGL 10 graduation
requirement. Analysis of poverty, social class, and inequality in America. Students
receive feedback in preparing papers on poverty and inequality. Emphasis on research
techniques, evaluation and documentation of evidence, and style and mechanics of writing.
Meets the upper-division writing skills requirement for graduation. (Formerly ETHS
104W)

Units: 3Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

AFRS 121. Gospel Choir

(Same as Music 102GC) Performance of a variety of inspirational songs reflecting the
African American cultural experience. Participation through rehearsals, activities,
programs, and field trips.

Units: 1, Repeatable up to 99 units

AFRS 129. African American Literary Classics

Prerequisite: G.E. Foundation and Breadth Area C. Discussion and written analyses
of significant poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction by African American writers
representing a variety of views and perspectives. Historical and social contexts of
literary works. G.E. Integration IC.

Units: 3Course Typically Offered: Fall, SpringGE Area: IC

AFRS 130T. The African American Experience: Black Men and the Search for Self-Liberation

This course focuses on the history, political activity, cultural practices, and approaches
to masculinity in Black communities. How have Black men crafted their masculintiy
in a society hostile to it? How have they negotiated institutional systems of oppression
that often seek Black men out? How do Black boys negotiate subtle forms of institutionlization
and ostracization? How do Black males of all ages interpret relationships with Black
women, especially since Black women's response have become popularly entertained in
mainstream society and Black men have seemed silent--especially in regard to access
to mainstream media? The class will focus on readings, films, discussions, guests
lecturers, and the Internet that pertain to Black men's experience.

Units: 3

AFRS 130T. Topics in Ethnic Studies

In-depth research and writing on the past and contemporary situation of America's
major ethnic minorities.

Units: 1-3, Repeatable up to 6 units

AFRS 135. The African American Community

Analysis of the various lifestyles and cultural patterns of African American communities.
Emphasis on unique cultural features of the family, religion, foods, music, art, and
folkways. (Formerly AFAM 135)

Units: 3Course Typically Offered: Fall

AFRS 137. African American Women

(AFRS 137 same as WS 137.) An overview of the accomplishments of African American
women in the United States; their contributions to American culture; African influence;
African American women as defined by a dominant soceity vs. legitimate definition
designed to encourage a positive self-concept.

Units: 3

AFRS 140. The African American Church

History of the formation and development of African American religious institutions
(Christianity, Islam, Judaism) in the African American community; their effect on
the African American personality.

Units: 3

AFRS 144. Race Relations

Prerequsites: G.E. Foundation and Breadth Area D. Analysis of the moral and intellectual
issues surrounding the attitudes of whites toward blacks and other racial groups in
the United States and elsewhere. Explores the functions of race relations and the
social life that developed among non-white groups themselves. (Formerly AFAM 144)

AFRS 146. Law and the Minority Community

Critical analysis of the foundation and changing structure of law and legal institutions
as perceived by minority communities, with emphasis on equal employment and education,
criminal justice, and political power.

Units: 3Course Typically Offered: Spring

AFRS 148. Issues in the African American Community

Prerequisite: AFRS 10 or permission of instructor. In-depth, comprehensive, critical
analysis of the current social and economic structure of the African American community.
Examination of the effects of institutional racism on current social policy.

Units: 3

AFRS 150. South Africa

Prerequisites: G.E. Foundationand Breadth Aread D. An introductory analysis of the
social, racial, political, and economic problems of people of South Africa, both past
and present. G.E. Multicultural/International MI.

Units: 3Course Typically Offered: SpringGE Area: M/I

AFRS 164. African Cultural Perspectives

This course explores the realities of the African cultural experiences through readings
and films by Africans. The goal is to study the historical, political, economic, religious,
and socio-cultural conditions of the continent in the pre-colonial, colonial, and
postcolonial periods.

Units: 3Course Typically Offered: FallGE Area: M/I

AFRS 165. African-American Theatre

(DRAMA 187 same as AAIS 165.) Performance, scene development, and dramatic styles
consistent with the African American experience. Exploration of cross-cultural aesthetics
as they inform creative development. Development of self-written or published scenes
and plays. (Formerly AFAM 165)

Units: 3, Repeatable up to 6 units

AFRS 178. History of African Americans

(HIST 178 same as AFRS 178.)

Units: 3

AFRS 189. Fieldwork in Community Relations

Supervised field observation, participation, and documentation in the operation of
minority communities.

Units: 3, Repeatable up to 6 unitsCourse Typically Offered: Spring

AFRS 190. Independent Study

AFRS 191. History of Allensworth

An examination of the historical development of the African American town of Allensworth
from its status as a town to its existence as a state historic park. Students will
be exposed to various academic disciplines through lectures and a field trip to the
park.